


To Love A Beast

by EM_Gee



Category: Beauty and the Beast (1991), Gravity Falls
Genre: BATB AU, Modern AU, alternative universe, i do not own this au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-02
Updated: 2016-06-18
Packaged: 2018-07-11 17:55:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7063975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EM_Gee/pseuds/EM_Gee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on artsycrapfromsai’s platonic beauty and the beast AU. Longing for adventure, Dipper and Mabel venture into a forest in search of a cursed beast. Batb AU. Modern AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I posted this on my tumblr (vodkawrites.tumblr.com) a few months ago but never got around to publishing here. Platonic batb AU belongs to @saisai-chan on tumblr so go check them out! I hope you all enjoy!

“Dipper, keep up! I want to go before it closes!” a young girl shouted over his shoulder as she weaved through the crowd with a practiced elegance. 

Her brother, - presumably Dipper - on the other hand, was not as graceful as he rushed to keep up with his sister. He was about ten steps behind her but could not squeeze himself into the crowd as she could and ended up apologizing to all the people he had bumped into. “Mabel, I would keep up if you weren’t running hap-hazardously through a busy street!” Dipper argued . 

“You would be able to keep up if you weren’t complaining, you nerd,” Mabel teased lightly and stuck out her tongue immaturely. 

The boy exhaled but didn’t fight back, he knew it would be a lost cause. Instead, he focused on rounding the corner to the bookstore. The bookstore was rather small compared to the bakery next door, but the two twins loved it all the same. The inside of the bookstore was rather cramp with only a few shelves with books on them. Not to mention most of the books were old with their spines falling apart and words faded by sunlight. A short old man was stacking up a few books behind a small counter as the two siblings entered the shop. 

“Hi, Mr. McGucket!” Mabel said cheerfully. “We’re here to return our books!”

“Finished them already?” Mr. McGucket asked with a chuckle and turned around. Getting a good look at his face, it was fair to say he was at least sixty years old, if not older. All of the hair on his head had gone to his long beard much like that of Santa Claus with a bandage stuck in it, for some reason. Despite his outward appearance and rumors of his insanity, Dipper and Mabel weren’t deterred from befriending the book keeper. They found he was rather compassionate and actually listened to them when they spoke.

“We couldn’t put it down,” Dipper said enthusiastically.

“Literally!” Mabel added. “I accidentally spilled glue all over it and got myself stuck to it! Luckily, it was just glitter glue so it was easy to peel myself off!”

Mr. McGucket chuckled at the thought of Mabel gluing herself to a book. “Well, ’m sorry to break it to you but we don’t got any new books. Now with those darn computermajigs, no one really cares to read real books, you know? I may hafta close down shop…”

“You can’t close!” Mabel exclaimed dramatically. Both her and her brother loved coming to the bookstore - the sense of romance and mystery and adventure they got from books was the greatest feeling to them - and would be devastated if it ever closed.

“’m afraid it’s true,” he said dejectedly. He took the top blue book from the stack on the counter and put it back into its correct spot on the bottom shelf. 

“But where will Mabel and I get our adventure from?” Dipper asked, rounding the corner of the counter. “The bookshop is all we have.”

“Cheer up, Dipper. You can always read books on those computermajigs,” Mr. McGucket said to lighten the mood. “Anyways, I’ll still be ‘round.”

“But it won’t be the same,” Mabel grumbled and kicked the counter lightly. “Books are the closest thing we get to something exciting happening in our lives!”

“You want excitement, huh? Why don’t I tell you about the legend of the monster that lives right here in Gravity Falls? That should cheer ya up!”

“There’s a monster that actually lives here!?” Dipper asked, wide eyed. He had always noticed the town was a bit weird and took an interest in fantastical creatures. Just knowing that there could be a monster, here, was enough to pacify him. 

“Oh yes. But he wasn’t always this way. Thirty years ago, there were two brothers who lived in the woods. The brothers were both very different in personality, but were both selfish. The younger brother cared only about his riches the older brother only cared about knowledge. The two began to drift apart when the older brother stumbled upon a magical being who made a deal with him. The being would give him all the answers and secrets to the universe he wanted in exchange for a physical body. However, the magical being betrayed him. Desperate to free his brother from the demon, the younger brother struck another deal. If he could do one selfless act of true love, they would both be free from his deal.”

“That’s so romantic!” Mabel swooned dramatically. 

“I can’t believe it!” Dipper exclaimed, his brown eyes wide with excitement. “An actual monster! Here!”

The bookkeeper shrugged his shoulders. “Hey, it’s just legend. It’s probably not true. I mean, magic and monsters and demons? That’s ridiculous. Things like that don’t exist in the real world. People just drum up stories to get more tourists ta come by,” he said and waved around a blue book. 

“But what if it is true?!” Dipper asked leaning over the counter.

“I guess you’ll just have to go find out, now wouldn’t ya?” he asked with a wink. “But don’t you go tellin’ people it was me who told you. People think I’m crazy enough as it is.”

“Thank you, Mr. McGucket. We promise!” Mabel assured the old man and even made a gesture to zip up her lips and throw away the key.

“You better get going. Wouldn’t want to keep a monster waiting, huh?”

“Yes, of course! Goodbye!” the two said and waved goodbye to their friend.

The two hurried out of the bookstore, desperate to find out if Mr. McGucket’s story was real or not. They didn’t make it much further than two steps out the door when they were stopped by a small, platinum blond child. 

“Oh, Mabel, what a coincidence that we just so happened to bump into each other,” the boy said smoothly. 

“Gideon,” Mabel groaned. This was the third time this week that she “casually” bumped into the younger boy. “How many times do I have to tell you that it’s not a coincidence if you’re stalking me, you creep?”

“This would be the forty third, my sweet sunflower.”

“What are you doing here, Gideon?” Dipper interrupted, his arms crossed over his chest. He really did despise Gideon. He was always finding a way into their life, despite every attempt to push him away. “Wouldn’t you rather be doing your hair or whatever weird things you do.”

Gideon turned away his attention from Mabel to her brother. “Ah, Dipper,” he said with a forced smile. “It’s always a pleasure to see you too.”

“Cut the crap,” he said, a hand on his hip. “What do you want from us?”

“This is the day all of Mabel’s dreams come true!”

“Oh really? What do you know about my dreams?”

“We are going to go on a date. We are the two cutest people in town so we’re meant to be together. Isn’t that right, sweet cakes?” He took her hand into his and gave the back of her palm a kiss. 

She pulled her hand away and wiped it on her sweater a few times. She would definitely need to wash it or, rather, burn it. “Ew, gross, I’d rather die.”

“So should I take that as a ‘yes’ or an ‘oh yes’?” Gideon asked, wiggling his eyebrows. 

“Can’t you just leave us alone? We just wanted to return out book with Mr. McGucket, not get harassed by you!”

“I don’t know why you go there. That old man is crazy,” Gideon sneered.

“He’s not crazy! He’s a genius, not that you would know anything about that,” Dipper said, muttering the last part under his breath. “He told us about a monster in the forest.”

Gideon threw his head back and laughed. “Ha, and you believe him! That’s rich! You’re just as crazy as he is. And if you keep hanging out with him, you’ll soon turn out like him. Besides, monsters don’t exist.”

“Well I’m looking at one,” he muttered.

“I’d watch your tongue, Dipper Pines,” Gideon said, poking Dipper in the chest. “My family has a powerful influence over this town, and you wouldn’t want something bad to happen, would you?” 

“Hey is that something in your hair?” Mabel asked, abruptly changing the conversation.

“I can’t have something in my hair in front of a lady!” Gideon lamented. He took out a pocket mirror from the front pocket of his blazer and began to fluff his hair with his hands. 

While Gideon was distracted, Mabel grabbed Dipper by the arm and yanked him through the crowd. 

x x x

“Where were you two?” their mother asked as the two siblings walked through the front door. She put the glass she was washing down and put her hands on her hips. “You were gone for almost an hour with no word when you would return!”

“We were just returning our book to Mr. McGucket’s book store,” Dipper defended. “We weren’t even gone that long.”

Their father looked up from his newspaper from his spot at the kitchen table. “We told you two time and time again not to go there, did we not?”

“No you did but-”

“But nothing!” he interrupted before they could come up with some elaborate excuse. “You were supposed to be out with Gideon. We got many calls from the Gleefuls asking where you two were.” 

“Ew, I don’t care. I’d rather die than hang out with Gideon!”

“That’s what they always say before they start dating,” their mother insisted. 

“We’re not and never will be dating!”

“Just imagine,” their mother said dreamily, ignoring all of her daughter’s protests. “Our little girl! Dating the son of the police force! Mabel Gleeful has such a beautiful ring to it!”

“Mom, I don’t want to date him! I’m not some property to be brought and sold! This is the 21st century! I want adventure and mystery! I want to be in the stories Mr. Mcgucket tells us!” the young girl pleaded. 

“You can get all of that with Gideon and especially without talking to a crazy man. He just wants attention,” their father said, returning to his story in the newspaper. 

“But he told us there’s a monster in the woods!” Dipper claimed. He knew it would be hard enough to convince his parents that there was a monster in Gravity Falls, especially since the so-called crazy bookshop owner told him, but it was worth a try. For some reason, he truly believed there was a monster in the woods. Maybe then people would take them seriously and let them have more adventure than a boring life with Gideon.

“Here we go again,” their mother sighed with a roll of her eyes. “How many times do we have to tell you there’s no such things as monsters? He’s been filling your head with crazy conspiracies and stories.”

“But this one is true!” Mabel declared defensively. “He lives in the shack in the woods and-”

“That shack has been abandoned for at least thirty years,” their mother assured, with a wave of her hand. 

“And isn’t anyone a bit curious about what happened and why!?”

“I’m perfectly content with my happy and peaceful life. Besides, your father and I wouldn’t be able to live with ourselves if you got hurt.” 

“We won’t get hurt! We’ve been in those woods countless time and-”

“You have!? That is unacceptable. How many times do we have to tell you to stay away from those woods? You two shouldn’t be sticking your heads where they don’t belong. You’re grounded for disobeying us. Go to your rooms, now.”

“But-”

“Now!” their parents said in unison. 

“Yes mom and dad,” the two grumbled and shuffled upstairs to their room. 

“Why does no one understand us?” Dipper lamented to his sister. He slamming the door to their bedroom angrily and went over to his desk. “The town just thinks we’re ‘funny’ or ‘special’ or ‘distracted’. Why don’t they understand that we want more than this provincial life?” 

“At least you’ll be able to leave,” Mabel argued and flopped onto her bed dramatically. “Knowing them, they’re arranging a marriage ceremony as we speak. Could you imagine? Me? Married to Gideon?”

“…You know, Mabel,” Dipper began, running his fingers over an old map of the woods. “If the story Mr. McGucket told us was true, we could leave this town! We could go monster hunting like all of the books we read!”

“And find true love!” Mabel exclaimed. 

“Are you thinking what I am thinking?”

“Monster hunt! Monster hunt! Monster hunt!”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you are all enjoying this story! If you would like, feel free to follow my tumblr (vodkawrites.tumblr.com) for more updates and other stuff! Credit for the AU goes to @artsycrapfromsai on tumblr!

“…Sixer, what am I supposed to it? It’s been thirty years,” a gruff voice asked and picked up a small book from a table at the center of the room. The book itself wasn’t in the best condition - a few tears a scrapes at the corner and yellowing pages - but it was still beautiful in its own right. 

He looked desperately at the cover, hoping for an answer from the gold leaf plating.

“Fine, don’t talk to me,” he declared stubbornly. He stalked over to his favorite yellow chair and sulked. “You never want to talk to me. Go write your thoughts away or whatever you do!” 

Before he could finish his rant, the man was startled by a light tapping at the door.

“What!?” he growled. Before whoever had bothered in entered the room, he hastily placed the book back into its glass casing. He couldn’t risk anyone ruining the book. He couldn’t live with himself if he knew the book was damaged. 

“I know you don’t like being interrupted and all but I thought this was important enough for me to tell you ‘cause usually I’d just take care of it but it’s kinda important and-”

“Spit it out already!” he roared and crossed his arms over his chest. He couldn’t be bothered with whatever his workers were complaining about. That’s what they were for, right? 

“There’s people in the shack!” 

“What!?” he shouted, standing up from his yellow arm chair. He began to pace around the room. “How did anyone get in? You’re supposed to be guarding the place! What am I paying you for?”

“…actually you’re not paying me-”

“I guess I will have to show them how we treat guests around here!” he shouted and rushed out of the room.

“Now let’s think about this rationally!” the worker pleaded, attempting to catch up to the older man. “They’re only children!”

“Rationally!?” he snarled and turned back towards his worker. 

“It was just a thought-”

“No one is supposed to be here, children or not! We can’t have anyone get involved with that demon! Not again…” 

x x x

“You think this is the right place?” Dipper asked his sister as he looked up at the wooden shack in front of him. His friend wasn’t exactly very descriptive about the shack in the woods other than it was a mysterious shack in the woods. This rundown place seemed to fit the bill, though. 

The shack had definitely seen better days. There was thick electric wires running around the perimeter encircling grass and dead leaves that piled up to their knees. The wooden building seemed to be on its last legs with a broken staircase leading up to it and a the roof half broken. 

“It’s not like there would be a sign pointing us in the right direction, now would there be?”

“It’s not like we were paying attention,” he protested defensively. “We totally could’ve missed a sign.”

“Of course this is the place! There aren’t any other shacks in the woods! Don’t tell me you’re scared.” Mabel teased and punched her brother’s arm playfully. 

“Alright then, oh brave sister of mine. Ladies first,” he said and gestured for Mabel to open the broken door.

“Come on, it’s not even that scary,” she explained and pushed her body weight against the door to get it to open. “There, that wasn’t so bad!” she proclaimed when the door broke enough for them to squeeze through.

“Whoa, it’s pretty creepy in here,” Dipper explained and scoped the room. The room was dimly lit but the twins could make out a staircase along with two other rooms. Similar to the outside, the entire house was a disaster with even some weeds were beginning to poke between the floor boards. 

“Who do you think lived here?” 

“Not sure…” he said, his eyes landing on a picture framed to the wall. One side was completely burned but the other had a young man wearing a pair of thick glasses. “Hey! Come look at this!”

“Whoa!” Mabel gawked at the picture. “This must be the brothers that lived here! Do you think they’re still here?”

As if on cue, the two heard large and fast footsteps coming towards them.

“I’m going to assume, yes!”

“What are you doing here?” a gruff voice asked, his face obscured by the darkness. “Do you two know what the penalty is for trespassing!?”

“Is it jail time? Dipper, I’m too young to go to jail!” Mabel lamented dramatically.

“Leave once, and I won’t press any charges!” the man said angrily. 

“We can’t leave! We’re looking for the monster in the woods! Maybe you can help us!”

“A monster?” the voice asked, a bit hurt by that comment.

“Yeah, he’s cursed! And we’ve come to fix the curse! I could totally get someone to love him! I’m a love expert.”

“Love expert, you say?” the voice asked, a little more interested in that comment. 

“Yeah! I got a goat and a pig to get married! To a goat of all things! It’ll be a piece of cake to get a monster a selfless act of true love!” Mabel boasted proudly. 

“And what do you have in mind, oh love expert?” the voice asked sarcastically.

“If I learned anything from fairy tales, it’s that true love’s first kiss is the most selfless act of true love ever! And I mean, a cursed monster is pretty fairy tale-ish!”

“I wouldn’t say this is a fairy tale. It’s an adventure. A manly adventure!” Dipper said puffing his chest out. No one wouldn’t take him seriously if he knew he went on a magical fairy tale quest, but an epic manly adventure, that would surely give him some manliness points. 

“Yeah, a manly adventure with a curse and true love.” Mabel rolled her brown eyes sarcastically. “Face it, Dipper, it’s a fairy tale! A romantic fairy tale!”

“Whatever it is, we’re here to help! So do you know where the beast is?”

“…you’re serious about helping this…monster? You’re not here to take him away or to kill him? You actually want to help?”

“Of course!”

“Alright…I’ll show you the beast,” the voice said. Slowly, the man stepped into the light. The tale Mr. McGucket told them was true: he was a beast. He seemed to be an amalgamation of wild animals from the legs of a wolf to the face of a bison. He had to be at least six feet tall as he towered over the twins menacingly. 

Mabel’s grin widened. “I knew you were real!” 

“Aren’t…aren’t you scared of me!?” the beast asked, a bit taken back by her genuine reaction. He was sure the two would run out of the shack in fear and bring a mob back to fight him, not smile at him. 

“Scared?” Dipper asked attempting not to sound terrified, despite his voice shaking slightly. “W-why should we be scared?”

“Well…just look at me.” He gestured to himself. 

Mabel just waved her hand dismissively. “I’ve seen scarier things on Dipper’s internet history.”

“Hey!”

“Besides, you’re kinda fluffy,” Mabel said and stroked the beast’s paw against her face. “There’s definitely potential.”

“…why do you want to help me? You said it yourself: I’m a monster!”

"We’re bored.” Dipper shrugged. “Everyone has our life planned out for us.”

“Don’t you have a family?” the beast questioned. 

“They don’t even listen to us. Nobody really understand us,” Dipper sighed. 

The beast adverted his eyes from the twins. Sure they were cute and had good intentions, but he needed to protect them from the demon. He couldn’t live with himself if he knew someone else got hurt because of him. “You really shouldn’t stay. It’s dangerous here.”

“We can handle a little dangerous!” Mabel said and puffed her chest out.

“H-how about we make a deal?” Dipper asked and held out his hand.

The man visibly stiffened at the young boy’s comment. “…I don’t make deals.” 

“Fine. How about an arrangement? You will let us stay and in return we will help you free yourself from your curse.”

“I don’t know…”

“Please let us stay!” Mabel pleaded, her eyes big. “We can’t go back there!” 

The beast looked back and forth between the two twins. He supposed some company wouldn’t kill him. Besides, he hasn’t seen that demon since he was banished thirty years ago.

“Fine. But only because I’m desperate,” he huffed defeated and crossed his arms over his chest stubbornly. “Don’t think I’m doing this to be nice.”

“Awesome! You won’t regret it!” Mabel exclaimed and hugged him around his waist. “We’ll break the curse in no time!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Feedback is much appreciated! Have a wonderful day!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you are all enjoying this story! If you want to see more of what I am working on, be sure to check out my tumblr (vodkawrites.tumblr.com) for more updates! Credit for the AU goes to @artsycrapfromsai on tumblr so be sure to check them out when you get a chance!

“I’ve got it!” Mrs. Pines called to her husband at the sound of the doorbell. 

“Oh, Gideon,” she said as she opened the door. “So lovely to see you this evening.”

“It’s always lovely to see you, Mrs. Pines.” Gideon smiled and took the back of Mrs. Pines’s hand to give it a small peck.

“Oh, you,“ Mrs. Pines chuckled at his gesture. She always found it refreshing to see a boy with such manners. He was perfect for Mabel. “Charming as always.”

Gideon blushed at her compliment. “Thank you. I hope you don’t mind me interrupting your evening but I’m looking for Mabel.” Gideon peaked his head into the open doorway. “Is she around?”

Mrs. Pines furrowed her eyebrows. “Mabel and Dipper were supposed to be at your house six hours ago. Are they not there?”

“If they were, do you think I would be here asking for Mabel?” Gideon growled.

“Oh right, how silly of me,” Mrs. Pines chuckled, oblivious to Gideon’s change in tone. 

“Well do you know where they could be?” Gideon asked, dropping his darker tone for his usual fake cheeriness. 

Mrs. Pines’s eyes widened in realization. “Oh no,” she gasped dramatically. “They were prattling about some shack in the woods. My poor babies! in the woods, at night, all alone! And looking for a beast no less!” 

“A beast you say?” Gideon asked with piqued interest at the mere mention of a beast. 

Mrs. Pines nodded feverishly. “Oh yes. Do you think you can get your father on the case and bring them home?”

“Oh, Mrs. Pines, I can do better than just my father,” Gideon reassured her with a wave of his hand. “I’ll have your daughter and son home in no time.”

“Thank you, Gideon!” Mrs. Pines said and hugged Gideon close. “At least I know I can always trust you!”

x x x

“If you two are going to stay here for a bit, I need to lay down some ground rules,” the beast said gruffly and placed his hands on his hips.

“Lay it on us,” Mabel encouraged. 

“So you’re allowed everywhere in this shack, except the basement.”

“What’s in the basement?”

“It’s forbidden!”

The two twins looked at each other. 

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you.” The beast cleared his throat when he noticed the twins’ reaction. “Here’s your room. Try not to break anything.”

The beast opened the door to the only room in the attic. The room itself was quite cramped, much like the rest of the house. The roof sloped in a triangular pattern which matched the triangular shaped window. There was a layer of dust over everything, but it was manageable, in Mabel’s opinion. She could definitely add a few posters over here, a few fairy lights over the beds. Yes, this room could work.

“Where are you going?” Mabel asked when she noticed the beast was already halfway down the stairs. “Don’t you want to give us a tour?”

The beast shrugged indifferently. “Not really. I have workers that could do that.”

“Workers?”

“Soos!” the beast shouted, his voice rebounding off the wooden walls. 

A banging noise was heard before a screwdriver with a red handle waddled upright towards the beast.

“Sup!” the screwdriver said.

“I’ll leave you to it.” With those words, the beast stalked away.

The screwdriver turned to address the twins. “Soos the screwdriver, at your service!” the object said and tipped an imaginary hat.

“Woah! Talking furniture! That’s impossible, but also amazing!” Dipper bent down to its level and began to poke and prod the screwdriver. Trying not to gawk at how amazing this entire situation was, he asked “how does this even work?”

“Uh…I guess it just does?” The screwdriver bent his handle. “Not really sure, dude. One day I was just doing my work for my boss and poof, I became a screwdriver. Speaking of work for my boss, I should probably give you the tour. Wouldn’t want to anger the boss man, would we?”

“No sir,” Mabel said with a mock salute.

He cleared his throat and gestured to the room around them. “So this is the attic, or where you will be staying. It’s not much to look at but I guess it’s not too bad. Beats living in a tool box.”

“Are there more like you?” Dipper asked with wide eyes. Sure it was sort of normal to have a beast (albeit a talking beast) in a shack in the woods. But talking furniture? Maybe Mabel was right. This was beginning to sound like a magical fairy tale.

“Yeah! There’s Wendy! She’s an axe which is super cool! She could totally cut down any tree! And she has a friend Robbie who is a radio and Tambry who is a pen,” Soos listed. “And in your room there’s Grenda who is your dresser and Pacifica who is some weird makeup mirror table-”

“I’m a vanity mirror, get it right,” the vanity mirror, presumably named Pacifica, protested from her spot between the two beds.

“But none are as beautiful as Melody,” the screwdriver continued, ignoring Pacifica’s interruption. 

“Who’s Melody?” Mabel chimed in cheerfully. 

“Ah, she’s this cute fork.” He sighed dreamily. “I know that doesn’t sound so beautiful, but she is!”

“Why don’t you introduce her to us?” Mabel suggested excitedly. Leave it to Mabel to become interested in their nerdy discussion about magical talking furniture when romance was involved. Even if the romance was between two inanimate objects.

“Of course! She’s downstairs! Let’s go!”

The screwdriver led the twins down the stairs and back into the main room/

“So this is the main foyer. It’s nice, right?” The screwdriver outstretched his body as if he was showing off the room. “Even though I don’t have hands, I try to keep everything nice and tidy.”

“That’s very nice of you,” Mabel commended him with a smile.

The screwdriver scoffed. “Oh, it’s no problem. My boss is always so nice to me, it’s the least I could do for him.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask you,” Dipper began, his eyes locked on the burnt picture. “How did you meet the beast? And how did you get caught up in this mess?”

“Yeah, and what happened between him and his brother?” Mabel chimed in.

“Heh,” the screwdriver chuckled awkwardly. “I think you should ask my boss those questions.”

“But-”

“Now we’ll move on to the kitchen and see Melody,” Soos said, avoiding any further questions from the twins. He guided the twins back through the main room towards what must have been the kitchen.

“Ooh! A vending machine! Maybe there’s snacks!” Mabel exclaimed, veering off from the tour to stare at a large vending machine. The high tech machine looked severely out of place in such a rustic looking shack. “I’m starving! Maybe there’s some edible snacks.”

“I’m not so sure,” Dipper said skeptically. “I mean, what even is that grey stuff?”

“Who cares? It looks delicious!” Mabel fished into her pockets for two coins and inserted them into the machine. Quickly, she pushed the correct button combination.

"Darn, it doesn’t work,” Dipper sulked when he realized the machine didn’t even work properly. 

“You just have to press all of the buttons!” Mabel exclaimed, and did just that. 

“I don’t think that’s going to-” Dipper started but was interrupted by the vending machine opening up to reveal a small staircase.

“Woah!”

"Where do you think it leads?”

“Probably to the basement, duh!” Mabel explained, as if it were the most obvious statement in the world.

“The beast said not to go down to the basement. Remember?” Dipper asked warily. He certainly did not want to get on the beast’s bad side, especially since he seemed to have a bit of a temper. That was certainly the reason. It definitely had nothing to do with how scared Dipper was about whatever was in a forbidden basement.

“Oh come on. It’s just a secret staircase behind a vending machine. There’s no reason to be scared,” Mabel reasoned, scoffing at the obvious sign of danger in front of them. “I’ve seen scarier things on your internet history.”

“I’m not scared!” Dipper huffed and crossed his arms over his chest in protest.

Mabel gestured to the secret doorway. “Then why don’t you go first?”

“Very well,” he answered stubbornly and walked cautiously down the steps. Dipper couldn’t let his sister think he was scared of a secret staircase or whatever was in the basement. 

Surprisingly, the bottom of the staircase was quite sparse. Aside from a few discarded pages, there wasn’t much there. Dipper was expecting some sort of big reveal, but this was disappointing.

Mabel pouted, pursing her bottom lip out. “How upsetting. I was expecting a dragon!”

“This doesn’t make any sense. Why would the beast want to hide this?”

“Wait! What’s over there?” Mabel asked pointing to a door near the back of the room.

“Woah!” Dipper gawked as the two walked over the the doorway. “It looks like a secret elevator. I wonder where it leads.”

“Well we’re not going to find out by staring at it!” Mabel exclaimed and pushed her brother in.

“Mabel! Do you want to get us killed?” Dipper exclaimed dramatically. The elevator didn’t even look safe! How could Mabel think pushing him inside was a good idea?

“You don’t seem dead yet!” Mabel said cheerfully and joined her brother in the elevator. “Come on, didn’t you say you wanted adventure? What’s more adventurous than a creepy elevator.”

“Mmm,” Dipper hummed in agreement. “I suppose you’re right.”

“I’m always right!” Mabel shouted and pushed the down button on the elevator. Slowly, the elevator chugged down the shaft until it stopped at what the twins presumed to be the basement.

“Woah!” Mabel said as the wire doors opened before them. The room was large for a basement but was filled with futuristic technology. Much like the vending machine, the entire room stood out form the wooden homey feeling the shack gave. “It looks so future-y.” 

At the center of the room was a circular table with tattered red book under a dome of glass. “I wonder why he put this under glass It just looks like a ratty old book, if you ask me.”

“Maybe the beast likes books as much as we do,” Mabel supposed with a shrug. Books were, in fact, precious to the twins, but not enough to put on display in such an ornate manner. 

“Maybe it has some secret spell or map to hidden treasure!” Dipper suggested and approached the book. As the twins got closer, they could hear a faint voice calling out to them.

“Do you hear that?” Mabel whispered. “Do you think it’s a ghost?”

“I think it’s the book. I think it’s telling us to open it.”

“The beast must be punishing one of his enchanted workers! That’s why he didn’t want us to come down here! We should help!” Mabel exclaimed and opened the glass container to grab the book. Up close, it looked even worse than under the glass. The spine was completely tattered and some of the gold leaf was peeling from its brick red cover. As she ran her hand over the cover, the hoarse voice filled the room around the twins.

“I think it’s trying to talk to us! Try opening it!”

Mabel turned the front cover open only to find the book devoid of any writings; only discolored, tattered pages greeted the young twins. Confused, she flipped through the book for any sort of answer but was met with only emptiness. “Why would anyone put this under glass!?” Mabel complained with a huff. “There’s nothing even written.”

“Maybe it just needs a spell or a code,” Dipper rationalized. With everything he had seen today, he wouldn’t be surprised if the book required some spooky magic spell to get it to work.

As if on cue, cursive written began to form on the pages.

Greetings, the words appeared on the page, as if it were trying to have a conversation with the twins. Do kids still say greetings? I haven’t had a chance to talk to any kids in 30 years

“Don’t touch that!” a gruff voice shouted from the other side of the room.

Surprised at the beast’s booming voice, Mabel dropped the book from her hands. Reflexively, the beast rushed over to the book and picked it up from the ground.

“Do you have any idea what you could have done!?” the beast shouted, cradling the book protectively in his arms.

“I’m sorry! Please! I didn’t know!” Mabel pleaded.

The beast stalked over to Mabel. “You could have killed him!”

“Hey man, she said she was sorry!” Dipper shouted, stopping the beast before he could reach Mabel.

The beast turned on his heel and stared at Dipper. “Well sorry doesn’t make your problems just go away like magic!” he yelled, throwing his hands in the air to make his point.

“Then what do you want us to do? Beg? Plead? Cry? Cause I think Mabel’s already done all of that for you.”

“Get out,” he grumbled under his breath.

“What?”

“Get out!” With one fell swoop of his hand, the beast knocked the glass off the table, promptly shattering it into hundreds of pieces. “You aren’t here to help! You’re just like everyone else!” he accused the twins with a dark laugh. “You just want to hurt us! You said you are here to help me; I can’t believe I fell for that! I never want to see your faces again! Get out!”

The twins scrambled to the elevator before the beast could unleash his wrath on them.

“I can’t stay here!” Dipper admitted, hastily closing the elevator gates behind him.

“But what about helping the beast?” Mabel asked. She cast her eyes downward at her hands, or really anywhere, to avoid her brother’s gaze. She knew it wasn’t the beast’s fault; she was the one who dropped the book. Not to mention that he told them not to go down there. He had every right to be angry. She supposed she would’ve been angry too,

Dipper scowled and said stubbornly, “I don’t care. He could’ve hurt you.”

“It was an accident,” Mabel defended. She knew there had to be rational explanation for how he reacted. Maybe there really was something important in that book…

“Accident or not, he tried to attack you! He could’ve hurt you if I didn’t step in and you’re defending him?” Dipper asked. He couldn’t believe his sister, of all people, had the gall to justify a monster. He knew she had a trusting heart but this was too much.

Mabel opened her mouth to protested but stopped. It was a fight she knew she could not win. 

“He deserves to stay a beast,” Dipper grumbled.

“You don’t mean that,” Mabel reminded him.

“He made you cry!”

The elevator dinged, interrupting their sibling bickering.

“Come on, Mabel, are you ready to go back home?” 

Mabel looked at her brother’s unmoving brown eyes. She could see how conflicted he was. He wanted adventure as much as she did, but was this worth the cost? Was being married to Gideon any better than living with a short tempered beast?

“Mmm…I suppose,” she said resentfully and placed her hand in his.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope to have the next chapter up soon! Have a wonderful day!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just realized I forgot to upload this chapter so here it is! I hope to have the next chapter out this weekend so stay tuned! Credit for this AU goes to the lovely @artsycrapfromsai! Hope you enjoy this chapter!

“This is what I get for trusting people!” the beast ranted, pacing back and forth through the darkness of the basement. 

 _You’re being dramatic,_ the book answered the beast in neat cursive. 

The beast paused in his steps, angered that the book was being rational about this entire situation. “I’m being dramatic!?” he asked, mocking the book’s description of him. He let out a dark chuckle. “I’m not the one who tried to get the kids’ attention by glowing!”

 _It’s been such a long time that I’ve had anyone to talk to,_ the book defended.

“So you won’t talk to me but you’ll talk to strangers?” the beast asked with a snort. “How typical of you!” 

_If you haven’t noticed, I haven’t had lots of people to talk to._

“I’m trying to protect you!” the beast proclaimed. He didn’t know what he would do if he knew the book got hurt because of his foolishness. 

_From what!? Two children who you let into the shack! They’re just kids, they’re harmless._

“How can you even trust them?” 

 _They are children,_ the book rationalized. 

“But what if they did hurt you? I could’ve lost you forever.”

_But they didn’t. They thought you trapped me here. They were only trying to help._

The beast crossed his arms over his chest. “Trying to help or not. they didn’t listen to me when I said they shouldn’t come down here! I didn’t even want them to stay in the first place. They tricked me, I tell you.”

_I’m sure they did._

“I can’t have kids staying here! I’m dangerous! This whole situation is dangerous!” The beast gazed down at his his graying paws. He thought about how long it was since the curse. Had it really been that long? Instinctively, he picked at some of the matted pieces of gray fur. “I don’t know what I’d do to myself if some kids got mixed up in this demon business. It’s bad enough he cursed you.”

_Maybe you should have told them that before you scared them half to death! I mean really Stan. Do you even think about your actions?_

“Look, I’m not in the mood to fight, okay?” The beast sighed and collapsed into his yellow arm chair. He had enough fighting for the day. All he wanted was for everything to go back to the way it was, as impossible as it was.

 _I think you should go after them,_ the book finally wrote.

“Oh really now?”

_Well I would do it, but I don’t think I can._

The beast turned towards the darkness of the room where he knew shattered pieces of glass were. Where he knew he had destroyed the kids’ dreams. Where he knew he had crushed his own hope. “It doesn’t matter. It’s too late. I kicked them out. They’d never want to come back. Heck, I wouldn’t even want to come back.”

_I would hardly think it’s too late._

“How would I know where they are?”

_They couldn’t have gotten far._

The beast paused and weighed the situation before him. Once upon a time, he had wanted to change back. He hoped that one day, he would be able to break the curse. But that dream was lost so many years ago. He had been a monster for so long that when two children came along to help, he kicked them out. 

“Are you sure that they’ll come back?”

_I’m sure._

The beast looked at the book and then at the door. It was now or never. 

“Well if I’m going, you’re going with me,” the beast decided. 

 _Do you really think that’s a great-_ the book began to ask but was immediately slammed shut by the beast. 

x x x

The woods around the shack were quite terrifying at night. The twins walked down the dirt path carefully with determination towards the town. Each flick of their flashlight created long shadows from the pine trees against the dark ground. 

“Dipper?” Mabel asked, finally breaking the silence. “Where are we going?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Dipper replied stubbornly, averting his eyes from his sister’s worried gaze. She always did have a tendency to dote on him a bit too much. She really was becoming just like their mother. “All I know is that we have to get as far from that shack as possible.”

Mabel gestured to the dark woods engulfing them. “And where exactly are you leading us? You don’t seem to have a plan, Mr. Brainiac.”

“Well there’s no cell service in these woods to I have to rely on the stars.”

“Nerd,” Mabel teased her brother with a chuckle.

“Shut up.” Dipper pushed Mabel playfully. “Okay so ursa major is over there and is pointing to polaris in ursa minor which is right up there,” he explained pointing at the stars in the dark purple sky. Most of them were obstructed by the trees but since it was winter, ursa major was rising towards the top of the sky “So we should follow the stars this way.”

Mabel tilted her head and squinted at the night sky. She couldn’t tell what Dipper was even referring to. All she saw were white specks against a dark background. She could never understand how these could turn into pictures. “How can you tell? Can you read my horoscope next?”

“Mabel, astrology is all made up. It has nothing to do with astronomy.”

Mabel pouted and kicked a large stone down the path. It tumbled for a bit before stopping in front of a tree. “Well these stars just look like dumb dots to me. Although that one looks like a fairy.”

Dipper scoffed and headed towards what he believed to be north. If he read the stars correctly, they should be back to the town in no time. “There’s no fairy star. Besides, I studied the stars for years. Before GPS, this is how lots of people navigated. The stars are always right.”

“Well I think your stars are finally broken. We passed this fork in the road like five times!” Mabel complained as they past a sign pointing to two diverging roads. 

Dipper inspected the signs. “No we didn’t. This one is in French. The last signs we passed were in English. Obviously different.”

Mabel groaned. “This is so dumb. We should’ve just waited back at the shack until day time.”

“I’m not spending another second in that place,” Dipper proclaimed with a huff.

“Well face it, we’re lost! We’re gonna die in the woods! No one will even find our bodies!” Mabel shouted and dramatically waved her arms in the air.

“Better than being dead in some weird shack,” Dipper grumbled under his breath.

“Look! There’s a person! Why don’t we ask him for directions?” Mabel said, pointing at a strange figure in the distance.

“We’re not going up to some stranger and asking for-Mabel! Don’t talk to him!” Dipper protested.

“Um excuse me!” Mabel said, trying to get the larger man’s attention by waving her hands in the air. “Can you tell us how to get back to town?”

The man looked up. From the light of the flashlight, the two twins could tell that he was quite tall with broad shoulders. On each arm was a myriad of tattoos in snake-like patterns. He was quite scary and, in a way, he reminded the twins of the best.

 “Of course, children,” he said with a smile. “I can show you back.”

“Aw, how nice of you!”

“Psst Mabel,” Dipper whispered, pulling his sister aside by the sleeve of her sweater. “Doesn’t this feel weird?” Sure, the beast had made him a bit tense, but that didn’t mean he could ignore the dark feeling he had looking at the stranger. His parents warned them about strangers, especially  strangers who just so happen to be in the woods at night.  

“No! Of course not,” she said dismissively. 

“Well why is a man out in the woods so late at night? Isn’t that weird?”

“Maybe he’s cutting wood or something,” Mabel rationalized, as usual. “You’re just paranoid as always.”

“He doesn’t even have any eyes! Isn’t that weird?” Dipper exclaimed gesturing to the stranger’s milky eyes. 

“Maybe he got blinded by love? You know shouldn’t judge people by their outer appearances.”

“Last time you said that we ended up with an actual beast!” 

“Look this is better than your dumb stars! He’ll actually take us home!” Mabel explained and joined the strange man up the path. 

“Mabel. I think we should-” Dipper began but his words were interrupted by Mabel’s lighter conversation.

“So what’s your name?” Mabel asked the strange man.

“They call me Ghost Eyes,” he said gruffly.

“That’s such a pretty name!” Mabel said sincerely. She always wished she had a better name than Mabel. Mabel was a name for old ladies, not for her. “I’m Mabel and that paranoid guy over there is Dipper.”

“Don’t tell him my name!”

“Well, children, I can take you back to town. It’s just past these trees. I can show you the way home,” Ghost Eyes said and pointed down a narrow path. 

“Mabel, I still don’t have a good feeling about this,” he said through gritted teeth.  

“Nonsense! It’s a short cut!”

“Uh…I don’t think this is a good idea.”

“What? Are you scared?” she teased, poking his cheek with her finger. 

“No! I’m not scared!” he claimed with a huff. 

“Well then let’s go!” Mabel said, tugging her brother by his arm.

“What was that?” Dipper asked. He paused in his tracks and glared at a few shrubs that were moving seemingly on their own. 

“It’s nothing,” Mabel rationalized with a wave of her hand.

“Well it sounded like a gremlin,” Dipper explained. 

“More like a goblin, if you ask me,” Ghost Eyes pondered.

“No one asked you!” Dipper shouted. His voice must have startled the creature since the steps grew louder. 

“It sounds like it’s getting closer!”  

“RUN!” Dipper hollered. He grabbed his sister’s hand scrambled back the way they came. 

“But what about Ghost Eyes?” Mabel asked as they ran down the narrow path. 

“He can handle himself!” her brother answered.

“This way!” Mabel exclaimed, pulling her brother towards a clearing.

“What does it want from us?” Dipper asked, looking back towards the darkness. He could hear the loud footsteps closing in on them.

“Dinner? I don’t know!” Mabel shouted, giving way their hiding spot.

“Aaah!” The twins shouted as the creature appeared in the clearing. From the light of the stars, the twins could make out sharp claws and sharp teeth on the monster.

“Get behind me,” Dipper told his sister and  used his arm to shield themselves from the creature’s wrath. Instead, they felt nothing. Dipper opened his eyes to see the beast hovering over them, protecting them from the creature.

The beast roared and the creature scurried back into the shadows.

“Get into the shack!” the beast told the twins.

“What!?”

“Now!” the beast commanded, his face stone cold. 

The twins nodded and scurried back into the shack.

“You’re bleeding!” Mabel pointed out once the beast was safe in the shack.

The beast slammed the door behind him. “Oh uh…I guess I am,” he said with a nervous chuckle, as if he didn’t even notice the large gash in his arm. 

“Let me go get you some medicine.” Mabel shrugged off the sparkly pink bag off of her bag and fished inside for her first aid kit. 

“I don’t need any medicine!” he protested stubbornly.

“How else are you going to get better?” she asked, pulling out hydrogen peroxide and white gauze. “Are you going to lick your wound like some sort of animal?”

Stan paused from licking his would. “…I can explain,” he said guiltily. 

Mabel rolled her round eyes. This situation was more difficult than she had originally thought. “Let me at least wrap it up.”

“Fine,” he agreed with a huff and held out his arm for Mabel to bandage.

“Ow!” the beast hissed as her hand brushed against the wound. He beast reflexively pulled his arm away and curled it against his chest. 

“Hold still,” she lectured, reaching for his arm once more.

“How can I possible hold still when-OW!” he yelled with a low growl. 

Mabel glared at the beast. “It wouldn’t hurt so bad if you just stayed still!” 

“Well I wouldn’t be injured at all if you didn’t run away!”

“We wouldn’t have ran away if you didn’t yell at us!”

“I only yelled at you because you disobeyed my direct orders!”

Mabel opened her mouth but the words were lost in her throat. He was right. She shouldn’t have disobeyed his orders. She should’ve listened when he said not to go to the basement. It was all her fault.

“Look,” Dipper finally said, breaking the tense silence. “We’re sorry for touching your stuff and disobeying you. And we’re sorry for whatever made you angry. But well…um…we should thank you. You know, for saving us. You really didn’t have to.”

“Ah it was no problem. I shouldn’t have yelled at you two,” he said, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. “You were only trying to help.”

The beast paused and looked at the door.

“So I guess you kids want to go home in the morning, huh?” the beast asked. “I could get one of my workers-”

“No! We want to stay!” Mabel pleaded.

“Really?” the beast asked with wide brown eyes. 

“Yeah!”

The beast looked and the ground and grumbled “…even after I yelled at you?”

“Why don’t we forget all of that and a have a do over?” Dipper suggested with a small smile. 

The beast cocked an eyebrow. “A do over?”

“Yeah we can pretend like we never met.”

“It’s perfect!” Mabel chimed in. “We don’t even know you name.”

“Yeah. I can’t keep calling you ‘the beast’ all the time. It’s demeaning.”

The beast paused, a bit taken aback by her request. Nobody had bothered to call him by his first name, let alone ask for his first name, in a long time. “…it’s Stan.”

“Hi, Stan! I’m Mabel and that’s Dipper.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Dipper?”

“It’s a nickname,” Dipper clarified quickly and began to twiddle with his thumbs.

He slowly held out a paw for the two twins to shake. “Well it’s nice to meet you two.”

“Nice to meet you, Stan!” Mabel said with a laugh as she shook his paw.

“Boss!” a female voice shouted from the next room over. “Boss dude. There you are. Soos has been looking forever for you. Something about some kids-oh, you found them!” the ax said as she entered the room. “Guess we should tell Soos to halt the crazy search party.”

Stan exhaled, wincing a bit at the sound of something clanging from the kitchen. Knowing Soos, he probably had the whole house searching. “No harm done. Just clean everything up.”

The ax raised an eyebrow, a bit confused by the beast’s sudden change of attitude. Honestly, she was expecting some sort of tantrum. “Yes, sir,” she said with a salute and left. 

“So was that the ax Soos told us about?” Mabel asked.

“Yeah that’s Wendy. It seems you’ve just about met everyone.”

“Well…not everyone. Stan, I’ve been meaning you ask you,” Dipper began. His gaze wandered to the burned picture hanging on the wall of the shack. “Why is there a talking book in the basement?”

“And why was it trapped under glass?” Mabel interjected.

“Heh,” Stan chuckled awkwardly. “You’re pretty persistent, aren’t you two?”

Dipper shrugged. “Well it’s not every day you see a talking book.”

Stan exhaled deeply. “Why don’t I show you instead?” He took the book out from a pocket on the inside of his tattered suit. Cautiously, he held out the open book, a bit hesitant on how the book would react. “Say hi.”

“Um…hi?” the children said to the book.

 _Greetings!_ appeared on the page in neat cursive writings.

“This is amazing! Who are you? What’s your name?”

 _My name is Ford,_ the book replied and began to sketch a small portrait. The portrait resembled the man in the burnt picture. He was tall with broad shoulders and shoulder length hair. His face was rather square with large ears and round glasses to complete the look. 

“Wow! You can draw! Can you draw me?” Mabel asked with a large smile. 

 _Of course!_  Instantly, a picture of Mabel in a puffy dress was sketched onto the once blank page.

Mabel ran her hand over the ink, amazed with how beautiful the picture was. “It’s amazing!” she gushed.

“How does this all work?” Dipper asked. His mind was churning. He had so many questions to ask the book. 

_Well, my body has become fused with this journal. My actions have become designated to this book, which has limited most of my basic bodily functions. All I can do now is speak through what is written._

“That’s amazing! So your thoughts instantly become words?”

_To put it simply, yes._

Stan crossed his paws across his chest and huffed. “Leave it to my brother to be a giant nerd.”

“Wait brother!?” Mabel asked, turning towards the book. “This is what happened to you?”

__Alas, it’s part of a curse. A demon tricked us and now we are trapped in these forms._ _

“Sure beats living as a beast, that’s for sure,” the beast grumbled under his breath.

“Well tomorrow, you’ve got Mabel on the case!” Mabel exclaimed, puffing her chest out. “I’ll make you get true love’s kiss in no time!”

“You really think you can get someone to love all of this?” he asked gesturing to himself. He wasn’t exactly boyfriend material. His gray hair was matted in a few spots and his sharp teeth weren’t exactly inviting. Not to mention how long he had been out of the dating game before he even turned into a beast.

“It’ll be easy. There has to be someone nice or blind enough to see past your outer looks for your inner beauty. It works in all of the fairy tales.”

Dipper shook his head once. “Mabel, this isn’t a fairy tale, as much as you want it to be.”

“Whatever your say,” she said, dismissively waving her hand in the air. “But I promise I’ll find someone for you!”

“How can you be so sure?” Stan asked skeptically.

“Nothing is stronger than the power of-”

“Love?”

“Mabel!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! If you have any comments, suggestions, or corrections, feel free to leave them below! You can also leave them on my tumblr at vodkawrites.tumblr.com! Have a wonderful day!

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback is appreciated! Until next chapter!


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